Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Sanz E
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3890891 | biostudies-other | 2014 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Sanz Eduardo E Valeriani Chantal C Zaccarelli Emanuela E Poon Wilson C K WC Cates Michael E ME Pusey Peter N PN
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20131204 1
By molecular-dynamics simulations, we have studied the devitrification (or crystallization) of aged hard-sphere glasses. First, we find that the dynamics of the particles are intermittent: Quiescent periods, when the particles simply "rattle" in their nearest-neighbor cages, are interrupted by abrupt "avalanches," where a subset of particles undergo large rearrangements. Second, we find that crystallization is associated with these avalanches but that the connection is not straightforward. The a ...[more]